133 years later, the Sagrada Familia almost finished

Gaudí's fantastic cathedral in Barcelona entered the final phase of its construction.

Sagrada Família entered the last straight line of its construction. It took him "only" 133 years to get there.

Six new towers will soon be added to the famous Roman Catholic Basilica to Barcelona , bringing its total to 18, to (finally) complete the work begun by Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí at the end of the 19th century. The largest of the new towers will be 172 metres high, making the cathedral the highest religious structure in Europe, says Jordi Faulí, the current chief architect. The building is now 70% complete and is being completed in 2026, per centennial of Gaudí’s death, although some decorative elements may take up to six additional years to be completed.

Consecrated in 2010 by Pope Benedict XVI, the Sagrada Família is still an extravagant work, that you can visit to discover its lively windows, its richly decorated facades and ornamental arches. A few hundred meters above the city centre of Barcelona, it attracts the eyes (and euros) of some three million visitors per year.

Inspired by nature

It is impossible to say how much money the construction has cost over the years. Today, the annual budget would be 25 million euros, paid in part by the entrance fees of visitors and private donations. More quantifiable is the time it took to build the cathedral. When asked why the project took so long, Gaudí liked to answer: “my client is not in a hurry” . He was talking about God. When Antoni Gaudi died in 1926 after being overturned by a tram, a single façade and less than a quarter of the exterior were completed.

Born in 1852 near the city of Reus, Gaudí grew up fascinated by the geometry and natural wonders of the Catalan countryside. After studying architecture, he eventually forged his own style, a synthesis of neo-gothic, new art, and oriental elements. For Gaudí, form and functionality were inseparable: aesthetics are found after looking for structural efficiency. “I do not invent anything, I copy the great book always open from nature” He said.

The Sagrada Familia is inspired by the love and faith of the architect for nature. He understood that the natural world was made of curved forms, not straight lines. Gaudí based his buildings on a simple postulate: if nature is God’s work, and if architectural forms come from nature, then the best way to honor God is to design buildings on the basis of his work.

Legacy of 3D printing?

In 1883, architect Joan Martorell i Montells, who had begun construction on a traditional neo-Gothic style, recommended his former apprentice Gaudí. The architect of the Guëll Park He was considering making a visual account of the life of Christ, but he knew that this large-scale project could not be completed during his life. So almost 12 years before his death, he created three-dimensional plaster plans rather than classic drawings. Although many were destroyed by vandals during a fire during the Spanish civil war, these geometric patterns were crucial for Gaudí’s successors.

These 3D plans contain the structural DNA of the entire building. Gaudi wanted to transmit them to future architects so that nothing is forgotten or left to chance, in order to finish his work. Today, architects in charge of the cathedral’s work use the 3D printing that allowed the construction site to move forward quickly.

Polémica Familia

The basilica has always been controversial, venerated by one, haunted by others. The surrealists claim Gaudí as one of theirs, while George Orwell called the church “one of the most hideous buildings in the world. »

Main photo credit: Pixabay – jarmoluk